Vivitek 1080p Projector Breaks Through to a Sub-$1000 Price

Vivitek's announcement of the H1080FD should help anyone with a budget put together a home theater, with a list price of $999.

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If you've ever toyed with the idea of putting together your own home theater built around a 1080p projector, but couldn't afford the entry fee, Vivitek's announcement today of the H1080FD should grab your attention. With a stated list price of $999 (which Vivitek says should also be the street price), it not only breaks the $1,000 barrier, but ushers in a new era of affordability for home theater.

Just four years ago, building a home theater around a 1080p projector was something you wouldn't consider unless you were very rich or very serious about seeing movies at the highest possible quality. The projectors themselves had price tags well into five figures, making the cost of a screen and sound system seem like pocket change.

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As recently as two years ago, I remember seeing the first 1080p projectors in the $3000 to $3500 range and thinking of them as bargains. They were still pricey, but starting to come down to the level where someone who wasn't a superstar athlete or getting paid yearly bonuses from AIG could afford them. Prices have continued to drop since then, so it's not hard to find sub-$2,000 1080p projectors today, and some even approach $1,000. But announcing a brand new model with a sub-$1,000 list price shatters an important psychological barrier.

It's also worth mention that although Vivitek is the first to announce a sub-$1,000 1080p projector, rumor has it that other companies are planning similar announcements soon as well. In short, 1080p home theaters are on the verge of becoming truly affordable, and the H1080FD is the proverbial harbinger of things to come.

None of this takes anything away from the Vivitek H1080FD being the first sub-$1000 1080p projector. Built around a DLP chipset, it offers an 1800 lumen brightness. That makes it brighter than many home theater projectors, and should allow a relatively large screen size, or even let the image stand up to some moderate ambient light at smaller image sizes. Connection choices include HDMI, composite video, S-Video, and component video. According to Vivitek, the H1080FD will be available in late August.

M. David Stone is an award-winning freelance writer and computer industry consultant. Although a confirmed generalist, with writing credits on subjects as varied as ape language experiments, politics, quantum physics, and an overview of a top company in the gaming industry. David is also an expert in imaging technologies (including printers, monitors, large-screen displays, projectors, scanners, and digital cameras), storage (both magnetic and optical), and word processing. He is a recognized expert on printers, well known within the industry, and has been a judge for...
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